Bob Dole Salutes President Bush One Last Time

Charles Bowen

Although Mr Bush's funeral services are suffused with the flourishes accorded presidents, by his choice they will not include a formal funeral procession through downtown Washington. Dole, who is 95, was helped from his wheelchair to stand and salute his fellow World War II veteran.

President Donald Trump went in person Tuesday to pay his respects to the grieving Bush family in his latest show of peacemaking with the political clan he once fought bitterly. Bush died last April and Robin died from leukemia at just four years old.

Thursday's flavour was distinctly Texan.

Mr Trump's relationship with the Bush family has been tense.

Bush was president from 1989 to 1993, a time in which communism toppled across Eastern Europe and Walesa became president of a democratic Poland. Those gathered also heard a prayer stressing the importance of service and selflessness that the president himself offered for the country at the start of his term. Pence said there was a kindness about Bush "that was evident to everyone who ever met him".

Duane Allen of the Oak Ridge Boys says Bush had personally requested that the group sing "Amazing Grace" at his funeral.

A visibly emotional Dole was wheeled into the Capitol rotunda where Bush's body lie in state.

Bush's grandson George P. Bush will give the other eulogy.

Instead of honest, balanced tributes which delivered a full picture of Bush's life and legacy, the media seemed to favor hagiography, retelling the former president's life with its blemishes removed.

National flags flew at half-staff on many foreign diplomatic buildings on Washington's "Embassy Row", past which Bush's coffin will be transported on its way to the Washington National Cathedral for a memorial service on Wednesday.

The locomotive was painted to resemble Air Force One, but George H.W. Bush joked that if it had been around during his presidency, he may have preferred to ride the rails rather than take to the skies.

One of Mr Bush's major achievements was assembling the global military coalition that liberated the tiny, oil-rich nation of Kuwait from invading neighbour Iraq in 1991, lasting only 100 hours. He sent him a letter in January 2017 saying he would not be able to attend his inauguration because of health concerns but wished Trump the best.

"He was a man of such great humility", said Alan Simpson, former Republican senator from Wyoming.

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